CALGARY — Brad Treliving’s first major move as new Calgary Flames general manager was to beef up the front office.
He named former Flame forward Craig Conroy and former Hockey Canada executive Brad Pascall as his new assistant general managers Friday. Conroy and Pascall join Mike Holditch, who has held that title since 2010.
"Having depth, having manpower, allows us to see more and do more," Treliving said at Scotiabank Saddledome. "Everything we do here when we look at adding staff and we look at adding people, this is all about building and this is about winning.
"To me, you need to build your foundation off the ice before you can ever think of having success on the ice."
Treliving, 44, was revealed as the Flames new GM on April 28.
The Flames were grooming Conroy for the managerial ranks before Treliving’s arrival. Conroy went to work immediately as a special assistant to former GM Jay Feaster after retiring in 2011.
Conroy’s apprenticeship accelerated in December when president of hockey operations Brian Burke fired Feaster. Conroy had more responsibilities in the four months Burke searched for a replacement before deciding on Treliving.
"All of a sudden, everyone had more to do," Conroy said. "Now you can really focus in on an area and really nail down what we’re going to do moving forward."
The 42-year-old from Potsdam, N.Y., played 1,009 NHL regular-season games, just over half of them with the Flames. He also played for the Montreal Canadiens, Los Angeles Kings and St. Louis Blues.
Pascall worked for Hockey Canada for almost two decades in different roles. He was most recently vice-president of hockey operations for the last four years.
He was part of the management groups that assembled the victorious Canadian men’s hockey teams for the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics.
"I think the evolution of my experience of being involved with various championship teams and building an organization there from a high-performance structure, I think it was always an aspiration of mine to one day move onto the National Hockey League," Pascall said.
The 43-year-old from Coquitlam, B.C., was drafted by the Buffalo Sabres in 1990 and played four years of minor pro hockey.
His wife is Cassie Campbell-Pascall, who led the Canadian women’s hockey team to Olympic gold in 2002 and 2006 as team captain.
Holditch’s area of expertise is salary cap and contracts. Pascall will oversee Calgary’s American Hockey League team which is moving to Glens Falls, N.Y., next season from Abbotsford, B.C.
Conroy will spend the most time of the road of the three, Treliving said, watching NHL and minor pro games in order to help with player decisions.
"I think you ought to be careful that you’re not tripping over people, but the way I look at it is you get the right people on the bus, you get winners on the bus, we’ll figure out all the rest," Treliving said.
"The game is becoming bigger each day, becoming more competitive each day, so the question we ask every morning when we roll out of bed is how do we win? How do we win and how do we get better? We got better today. We’ll keep all three of these guys busy."
Calgary missed the playoffs for a fifth straight season with a record of 35-40-7. The Flames own the fourth overall pick in the NHL entry draft June 27-28.
